Fate Note
by Draykon Vokelda
Summary: When the shinigami 'play,' it tends to bring forth a great disaster among humanity. It may have seemed like Ryuk's game with humans was over, but a group of strange shinigami have other plans. It's only natural then, that the rampage of Kira continues.
1. That Which Precedes the End

A place enveloped in darkness…

No, that wasn't it. This place is the same as our world. Or at least, it occupies the same space. But there's something there that isn't here.

They had many names, Shinigami, Grim Reapers, Angels of Death.

Personally, Ryuk liked to be called a Death God.

The place Ryuk had arrived in was a park, located within New York City. He'd come all the way to America on the personal request of a human he had been bound to.

Of course, it wasn't like he had a choice. He was bound to that notebook. Technically by this point he was bound to two. The calm night instilled a strange feeling, of emptiness, but not of loneliness. For Ryuk wasn't alone in this strange alternate plane, just slightly above the material park. For standing across from Ryuk, was another Death God.

It was probably best that they didn't use the term Angel, for unlike Ryuk, this one had no wings. Rather, two bloody stumps, perpetually dripping a strange red ash that quickly faded to nothing before it even touched the ground. His face was twisted into a perpetual grin, with three horns that curved. He looked almost like a demonic harlequin.

The demon jester laughed, "Ryuk! It's been a long time! How goes your game with the humans?"

Ryuk himself grinned, "Oh? And who said I was here to play? I could just be stalking someone, ready to gobble up their soul any minute."

The jester only laughed harder, "Come now Ryuk, I know you better than that. Besides, there's no one else here! Meaning you're here on your own. Meaning…"

His grin broadened impossibly wide, almost to the point that it threatened to slice his head in two.

"_This_ must be yours. Or rather, you must have dropped it."

The harlequin reaper held up a notebook. It was plainly designed, and black in color. Written upon it, barely visible, were two words. 'Death Note.'

More than that, the book was covered in scribbles. Red ink stained the cover. The jester flipped the pages, red ink filled the whole notebook, the rules once plainly written completely marked out.

But it seemed whoever had defaced the book hadn't even been satisfied there. For on a separate plane, a world of ether not even visible, the eyes of the two Death Gods saw the magic that bound the book.

It was covered in scribbles. The intricate designs that formed an almost computer-like spell had simply been marked out.

"I caught someone trying to send a couple Death Notes through the mail, so I decided to investigate. It seemed both of them were bound to you, so I did you a favor and made one of them not a Death Note. Hope you're not mad."

The jester's laughter had lowered to a giggle, but it still went on. Ryuk responded calmly.

"Suit yourself. All you've done is screw up Light's plans after it's too late for him to revise them."

Now Ryuk laughed, "It's a lot more fun when things don't go 'just as planned.'"

The two Death Gods simply laughed together for a time. A young couple passed through the park, and several birds flew past them overhead. Finally, the jester spoke again.

"That's great! Because you see, I had no intention of returning this notebook to you. No, I think I've found a human who'll play with this for me for a bit. Who knows, maybe he'll get to interact with the recipient of your little mail."

"If you're still like you were before Asmo, I'm pretty confident that's exactly what'll happen."

The reapers laughed together some more, like the old friends they were. Though they didn't say it out loud, they knew exactly what was about to happen. Ryuk had little intention of carrying out Light's last requests, but it seemed he'd found something new to entertain himself with. Soon the dim light of the sun began to slip through the cracks of the urban landscape. Sensing the package would arrive soon, Ryuk decided to depart.

As Ryuk turned to leave, the demon jester Asmo spoke one last line; "I'm playing with a toy you've never seen before Ryuk! I hope you have just as much fun as the humans do figuring out just what it does!"

With that, he turned off, and leapt in the opposite direction. Not quite flying, but still graceful as he was before his wings were clipped.

* * *

7/1/2011

Surrounding the earth, there exists a planet-sized spiderweb. Countless threads string together billions of computers worldwide, joining together in an uncontrollable stream of data.

How arrogant then, of the Japanese criminal justice system to attempt to hide information from the world. How foolish of them, to believe that any sort of data of such importance could be permitted to simply vanish from the data sphere! What DUMBASSES they must be to think we won't find out the truth!

I am referring of course, to the total disappearance of all data regarding the massive string of unexplained deaths known as "Kira.*****" Murders, widely attributed to an entity claiming himself** to be the ultimate judge, and thus determining for himself the guilt or innocence of humans throughout the world.

I post this blog not to judge the actions of Kira- that would be paradoxically hypocritical- but rather I intend to uncover the truth. Notably, The method by which the entity known as Kira would be capable of remotely inducing heart attacks. I also intend to observe- albeit on a case-by-case basis- the method by which Kira was able to gather information on various classified cases.

My observations have been of a strangely demonic luck possessed by the one called Kira, however gathering that information will take time. In the mean time, I have gone ahead and assembled this website. This should clear my mind of the necessity to construct a medium to release my information through, so that I may more thoroughly focus my attention of my investigation.

*Note that it is generally accepted that this is the result of transcribing the word "Killer" into Japanese, and then back to English. However this etymology is uncertain, and at any rate the term Kira is more familiar.

**For the sake of readability, I will choose my vocabulary under the assumption that Kira is masculine. Please note that this is uncertain, I just hate the 'he/she' construct.

Signed,

Ambiguous Single Letter

AS'L

* * *

In a dark bedroom, a young boy, no older than 15, receives a strange package, containing a notebook and a letter.

Across town, another boy, slightly older, finds a defaced notebook sitting precariously halfway through his open window.

Between the two, a young girl sighs as she finishes setting up her blog.

Up in the sky, two demonic angels laugh their hearts out, as all of the pieces move into play for the inevitable chess metaphor.

* * *

Joshua Harris was shocked. But there it was, on the news. Could he doubt the news? It was run by humans, and humans make mistakes. But for them to make this kind of mistake, even that it coincided was notable.

The humans on the little TV on Joshua's desk reported that police had located the corpse of elusive sex offender Bob Trev. Sure enough, there, written in the black notebook was exactly that name "Bob Trev."

Of course, Joshua hadn't been satisfied with just the default parameters. He'd gone ahead and added the cause of death "Mauled to death after arrogantly attacking a wild animal," and the 'extra details' "The corpse is found the next day by the police, following the scent caught by a police dog."

Joshua looked back at the TV. Of course humans loved dogs, and someone in charge had decided it would be cute to show the animal who'd located the corpse. The exact police tracking dog Joshua had written about was now being praised on his little television.

Just as it had been written in the first few pages of the notebook, and just as it had been written in that letter…

_To the recipient of this package:_

_I am Kira._

_However I am not long for this world. A critical possible flaw in my current plans has made itself apparent. And I fear…_

_No, it is certain that this will occur. As such, the construction of a large number of fake 'Death Notes' was necessary. In order to confuse the investigation team, I have scattered these fakes, and elected to mail the real note to America._

_Please do not search for the means I used to choose you as a specific recipient, it is irrelevant._

_Likely in your hands at this time is the tool used to judge humanity. As the instructions say, written in English for your convenience, 'the one whose name is written in this note shall die.' Many additional factors exist however, please review them carefully. _

_I invite you to make use of this note to judge humanity, as I have._

_If you are a human with morals…_

_No, if you are human at all, you will judge criminals well. Please do so._

Included with the letter was a list of rules, mostly the same as were written in the notebook itself.

Joshua examined the brown package it had come in again. It was fairly plain, the address was for a street he'd never heard of, and the return address set to his own apartment. Stamped on the package was something to the effect of 'returned to sender, due to invalid address.' It was safe to say that the package was sent to him via some fairly complicated means.

He figured he may as well try it and…

"See? Works perfectly."

The voice was sudden and uninvited. Almost as though the person who'd said it hadn't even been present until the words were spoken. When Joshua spun around, he immediately fell over, for he now looked at the twisted face of the dark angel that was Ryuk. Dressed in leather, with bluish-white skin and black lips, he looked almost like some kind of demonic rock star. A huge grin on his face, he simply floated, waiting for Joshua to speak.

After a long time, Joshua finally managed to choke out a simple "Wh-who are y-you?!"

Almost immediately Ryuk replied, "'Name's Ryuk. God of Death, and true owner of that notebook."

The twisted being laughed, as Joshua slowly crawled backwards. "Oh, but don't worry. We Death Gods have a policy of loaning our notebooks to humans under a few conditions. I'm sure you've already read all about it."

Ryuk indicated the second page of Kira's letter sitting on the table. Slowly, Joshua regained his composure, and stood back up.

"S-So you're the God of Death he kept mentioning then…"

"So you could kill me any time you wanted to…"

Ryuk burst out laughing almost instantly.

"Now now, why would I want to do that?"

"What happened to Kira then?"

The God of Death only laughed harder.

* * *

A young girl- probably no older than 12- closed her laptop. She had a lot of information to sift through, and it would probably be best to get some fresh air first. She had to make sure she was fully mentally prepared.

Leaving the little black computer on her bed, she got up and opened her bedroom window. The sunlight filtered through urban pollution, becoming an orange color.

Through the dust in the air, the amber light formed a visible beam, reflected off a wooden desk, and filled the room. The difference in air density outside and inside the room was quite large, and as a result a cool breeze filled the room cleansing the air.

The wind picked up a folded piece of paper from the girl's desk. It fluttered towards the open window, but was quickly plucked from the air by the girl's bony fingers.

A musing she had considered before passed her mind. One on the planet Venus. Before humans understood the nature of that world, they had named it after the Goddess of love.

How fitting then, that as we learned of its environment, it became clear that the planet Venus is far more akin to Hell.

'Therefore love is hell.' was the girl's final thought, as she looked at the letter she'd received the other day at school. And with a simple inverse of the motions she'd caught it with, she let the letter go.

As the breeze carried off the paper to parts unknown, Mina said to herself simply, "I'd prefer no one chase me into Pandemonium, it might make me feel guilty once I rule it."

* * *

"I'd take notes if I were you." Ryuk commented at the disaster onscreen.

Several gunshots echoed from the cheap speakers, then silence.

But the quiet was short lived, as the sound of a man screaming "WHAT THE HELL?!" could be heard. Several clicking sounds, and then a 'chink' as something was tossed to the floor.

Then a man jumped onscreen, diving behind the counter where only seconds ago the newscasters had sat, reporting whatever political news they had moved on to following the Trev case.

The camera was shaken to the floor, and so the screen now showed only a sideways view of some irrelevant corner of the studio. But the audio went on, as several footsteps were heard. Countless shouts were heard, among them Joshua could barely make out something to the effect of '--Not working!' '--The hell?!' And plenty of sounds of violence, before finally the screen went to a simple "Technical Difficulties" screen.

"Huh, so no one died?" were Ryuk's only comments.

* * *

Samuel Richards, along with the jester demon Asmo were practically rolling on the floor laughing. After some time, Samuel stood up, and reviewed what he had written on the defaced notebook.

"So? Waddaya think?" The Death God asked.

Samuel grinned,

"Just as planned."

* * *

Author's Notes

I haven't done much fanfiction- or hell coherent writing- in a long time, so I figured what better way to get back into it than with a fanfic of an absurdly popular series?

Actually I haven't heard much interesting about the Death Note fanfiction community. In fact, I hear it's mostly romance! Now to each his own, but I figure the series really is better suited to a kind of supernatural mystery thing. So that's exactly what I'm putting together. My goal is to make the Defaced Death Note- or Fate Note as I intend to call it in story- a subject of mystery, which the reader slowly figures out. I've got all figured out in my head, I just need to write it out.

By the way, I considered a number of viable letters for my L surrogate, then just said screw it and lampshaded it by going with "Ambiguous Single Letter." The A/S/L pun to go with her belief in internet supremacy is a nice bonus.


	2. The Establishment of Rules

7/2/2011

Kira's rampage is generally accepted as beginning on November 28, 2003, with the death of Kuro Otoharada. This man was, at the time, holding several hostages at a nursery school, when he suddenly died of a heart attack.

For the sake of isolating the oddities of this case, I will ignore the spatial parameters, and focus on the nature of the crime itself. How was it that a seemingly random crime was caught by Kira, and chosen as his first victim? The crime was being broadcasted on Live TV, is it possible then that Kira happened to be in the area, and decided it was a good a place to start as any?

Of course, this is operating under the assumption that Otoharada's death was actually the result of Kira's actions, a subject up for debate.

However this, in a fashion repeated by the majority of Kira's early murders, demonstrates a curious recurring fact.

_All of Kira's early murders were performed on victims whose crimes were known to the general public._

There is no sign of anyone believed to be innocent suddenly dieing of a heart attack, only for several mutilated corpses to show up in his basement. This, I believe, establishes an important fact:

_Kira is not omniscient._

And by extension:

_Kira is not God._

~AS'L

* * *

"So I essentially need a name and a face." Joshua said aloud, as he walked along the crowded sidewalk.

"Pretty much." Ryuk replied simply.

"Simple enough. But it seems kinda…" Joshua stopped, and turned around.

"Limited."

Ryuk laughed again, something he seemed rather fond of doing.

"Well there might be a way around it, but no Death God I know's found it, and Light couldn't find it either."

They resumed walking. After a bit, Joshua asked,

"Who is 'Light' anyway? You keep mentioning him."

Ryuk laughed even harder, "Did I forget to mention? That was Kira's--"

A sound that might be called a crash echoed through reality, as everything stopped.

"How boring." echoed a rather irritated-sounding voice "Couldn't Asmo have called us here _after_ the new humans had figured out the ultimate basics?"

"Oh come now Beli." came a second voice, this one dreamier, and far more calm. "You never know what vital clues we might see in the mean time."

"Geez Tia, you expect the humans to be nonlinear? When have they done anything like that?"

"I expect the linear, just not the typical line. Bear in mind the nature of these humans, and at least two Shinigami involved."

"Shinigami are usually just as boring as humans. Asmo's note will probably make things fun, but who knows when it'll come into play?"

There was a soft giggle. More innocent and calm than the obnoxious laugh of the Death Gods before her, Beli spoke again.

"It already has. And at any rate it'll only see more use from here. Someone has to stop the last of the original investigation squad from interfering, right?"

"Oh? What makes you sure it can do that?"

"Why didn't they stop filming when the influenced attacker invaded that TV station? Easy answer: the person running the feed was being influenced as well. Now you don't think that's proof that Asmo's Note doesn't need a name to work?"

Tia sounded annoyed again.

"I think you skipped a lot of steps in your logic. I don't see the connection at all."

"Really? I thought it was obvious..."

Beli was genuinely bewildered.

* * *

Mina didn't really know what to think, though she honestly had seen it coming. There was the news, streaming live, and displaying itself on her laptop screen.

Ten men dead.

All convicted criminals.

All heart attacks.

Joshua knew even less what to think. There were the names, written in his notebook.

Eleven names.

Ten of them those men.

Joshua's handwriting.

He had no memory of writing those names.

But Samuel knew exactly what to think, as the words found their way to his lips.

"Just as pl--"

He was interrupted by the sound of laughter, as Asmo fell to the ground.

"You aren't _seriously_ planning on saying that every time are you?! I mean sure it was kinda badass the first time, but it's gonna get real old real fast."

Samuel looked annoyed, but he decided to ignore the demon jester's ramblings. He was satisfied.

With just a couple hints Asmo had casually dropped, he'd already found a way around the first rule scribbled hastily on the first few pages of the notebook.

"'This note cannot be used to kill' my ass." he thought proudly.

* * *

A young silver haired boy had no idea what was going on. This felt like the right thing to do, and yet...

It was so wrong...

He lifted the small pistol, and aimed it carefully...

On the other side of the world, Joshua found himself particularly vexed at the sight of the eleventh name. One he'd never heard before.

Several city blocks away, Samuel looked once again at the inconspicuous chat site, where the name had been so carelessly posted, and then the poster's memory erased.

'Nate River'

And written in the notebook.

'Suicide'

* * *

7/3/2011

A common theory, for reasons fully documented elsewhere, is that Kira is capable of manipulating a target for a brief period of time before there death. Whether or not this theory is to be accepted I will discuss at a later date, however it holds great relevance to recent events.

Namely, a brief scandal that occurred yesterday on live television. As many likely witnessed, a man entered the newsroom and fired off three gunshots. None of these bullets connected, and following the third, the man's pistol failed. There was then a physical brawl, as several police officers intervened, their own weapons failing as well.

All involved- including the officers, and even the man manipulating the video feed- claimed later that they felt they were under a trance of some sort. Many have attributed this to Kira, as it coincides with the recent resuming of Kira's 'judgement,' (Which I will discuss at a later time.)

If we are to briefly pretend that the government officials involved in the Kira case are not filthy lying swine, then this produces a conflict, in which following their statement that 'we caught Kira, and we're not lying this time.' Kira is able to 'return' once again. I offer two explanations:

-A new individual has gained control over the method Kira previously used to 'judge' criminals. I shall henceforth call this hypothetical being 'KiraNeo.'

-If you review the evidence regarding Kira's ability to control people, you will note that it always precedes their death. This is the first case of this not ocurring- the lethal weapons even failed, as to prevent that inevitability. Therefore I propose that in addition to the rise of KiraNeo, an additional being has risen, with a more specialized ability to manipulate people. I shall refer to this being as 'Matsura.*'

*Following the alleged etymology for the word 'Kira,' using the word 'Master' as the root.

~AS'L

* * *

Author's notes.

Hey cool, the author's notes go at the beginning of their own page this time! It's ashame that makes absolutely no difference once it's uploaded!

Anyway, I like to think that a good gauge of something's popularity is the number of views it can amass before it falls off the first page, when the list is viewed in the default settings. I call this number the 'first page rating' or 'FPR.'

Chapter one had an FPR of 6.

But that's okay! If you won't give my writing a try, then I don't like you! So I'm going to keep shoving my terrible work in your face!

And in the far more likely scenario that I just didn't catch anyone's attention, these chapter updates can serve as a kind of 'bump.' I largely just like writing anyway.

Now that I'm done jokingly complaining about a lack of readers, how about commentary on the story itself? I still want the 'mystery' aspect, so we're not gonna be following Samuel too closely. But what's this? Two more lame Shinigami OCs? Now I'm not going to spoil anything, but these two are going to serve a purpose similar to the metaworld in Umineko No Naku Koro Ni. Only a lot less useful. If you haven't read Umineko, then you fail as a sapient life form and should just go kill yourself now! But for the sake of convenience, I kinda want their 'take' on what we're shown to be a kind of clue, to help you think about how all my fun little mysteries work.

Also yes I dropped a bridge on Near. This now ALMOST completely cuts off the direct ties to the original series, but I doubt I'll kill off Ryuk. Though he _is_ getting kinda pushed aside, I'll have to rectify this.

The author's notes are now almost a quarter the length of the chapter, so I'm going to stop now. Peace.

(But seriously guys, I'd LOVE to hear what you think. Even if you absolutely hate it with all your heart, it's better than uncertainty. :( )


	3. The Observation of Itself

"Boring boring boring." Tia's voice echoed musically, as he watched Ryuk casually help himself to a fruit bowl kept on Joshua's table.

"Hey Ryuk! Maybe you can do a little more than just laze around predictably! It's you who's gotten boring!"

Ryuk of course, couldn't hear. The existence of the observer Shinigami was just that, they couldn't be seen or heard by human or God.

Beli's lazy voice came in as well, "I'm afraid I agree. Save some minor details, the functionality of Asmo's Note has been almost completely given away."

Now Tia sounded annoyed, "I really don't get your reasoning. I haven't figured a thing out."

"Well look," Beli said casually, and the space shattered into a thousand fragments.

The tiny pieces of glass that used to be the universe swirled around in a space that wasn't. For a moment, they were completely aimless, moving almost randomly. Then there was a small click, and reality pieced itself back together almost immediately.

The scene they now looked at, was of a teenager, and a Death God. The teenager was pale, with long black messy hair. The Death God was the real focus of attention though, with horns bent in shapes reminiscent of a jester's hat, and bloody stumps where his wings would have been.

The scene replayed, and then stopped at a certain point. In her nonexistant hand, Beli took a highlighter, and brushed it across the scene. A single idea was illuminated.

With just a couple hints Asmo had casually dropped.

"It really is annoying. Because he tried to make himself sound casual, such an important line ended up so awkward sounding. But this answers everything doesn't it?" Beli's voice rang out again, unheard.

Tia was just as annoyed as normal, "That doesn't explain anything. Map out your thought process for me."

"Well, this proves that what Samuel needed to somehow get those names in the Death Note was information that Asmo thought wasn't important right? So then the Fate Note can somehow use inconsequential data that someone might casually say in conversation to control people. So like a name, but it's something Asmo would say casually. He can barely remember names, I doubt he would know one so important."

"Back up again Beli. 'Fate Note?' And how do you know it controls people."

Beli's dreamy giggle honestly left Tia a little unnerved,

"It really isn't obvious Tia? What else could it do? Oh, and I decided calling it Asmo's Note was going to get a little confusing in the future, after all we've already got the other one..."

"'Other one?"

"It really isn't obvious Tia?"

***

_Two weeks._

_140 names._

_A clear pattern of 10 judgments a week. Did the old Kira ever do anything so mechanical? KiraNeo does, but who is he? Ryuk makes it sound like 'Kira' was just a human who had this notebook._

_So the 'New Kira' should be me, the one who has it now, right? So then, who's writing these names? It's not the old Kira, he wasn't so predictable. _

_Wait! Wasn't there more than one Kira before? I read about something like that online..._

Joshua ran to his desktop, and turned it on. With every little click, his heart beat faster, as he navigated to his browser of choice.

Entered in a search.

And clicked the first relevant link.

***

7/17/2011

As we further analyze the information- both recent and old- regarding the Kira cases, it becomes more and more apparent that the 'KiraNeo*' theory is correct. Likewise, the 'Matsura' theory appears to have lost credibility- although the possibility remains that after I saw through his influence, he made the decision to 'hide' in a sense, behind Kira.

* I wish to thank my readers for bringing this term into common use. I rather enjoy not having to revise my vocabulary.

Since my blog has recently obtained news coverage**, I wish to review my reasoning for any new readers:

1. Five separate entities can be identified as 'Kira.'

2. Each one possesses the ability to cause death to any chosen individual.

3. They seem to be able to cause death through seemingly illogical methods- such as causing a target to be hit by a car.

--The less logical methods are generally accompanied by some means of knowing the target's location at the time of death. Therefore, these 'magic' killings may be the result of a conspiracy of some sort, in addition to the 'heart attack' method.

--Despite this, death by heart attack seems to be a common method of saying 'I am Kira'

4. The addition of any 'new' Kira generally follows the 'capture' of an 'old' Kira. KiraNeo is likely the result of the Kira Investigation Agency failing to notice this rather obvious pattern, and announcing their victory prematurely.

--Post Edited

(I honestly was not expecting such a following behind an obscure Japanese detective. I apologize for the personal attack on this 'L,' in fact more recent research shows it was more likely the government's fault for the false announcement. In which case, I wish to revise my earlier statement: 'Failure to notice this rather obvious pattern, and announcing with such confidence the capture of Kira is likely the result of the JAPANESE GOVERNMENT'S relatively low intelligence.')

5. Kira is rarely if ever able to 'kill' and individual whose name or face has been obscured from him.

6. KIRA CAN NOT BE EASILY CAPTURED.

(This last one is particularly important, I mean seriously.)

**And no, I won't appear onscreen for an interview. I've no intention of making myself so vulnerable to Kira.

~Ambiguous Single Letter

~~AS'L

***

"This guy's good" Ryuk commented, his mouth half-full with a partially chewed apple core. "Wonder if he could've caught Kira when he was alive-"

Time shattered again, as Tia appeared, and playfully shouted into Ryuk's ear.

"Of course he couldn't you moron! He admitted right there that he doesn't think Kira 'CAN BE CAUGHT!' He wouldn't even try!"

Tia flew backwards laughing, but Beli simply stared.

"HE couldn't? HE admitted? HE wouldn't? Tia.. THAT isn't obvious either?"

Tia stopped laughing instantly.

***

"I hardly need it at all anymore." Samuel said, incredibly proud of his accomplishments. He'd had the notebook for a little over two weeks now, and already he'd pushed it to its limits.

In fact, he could probably just leave the notebook alone, and it would keep forcing Kira to judge criminals for him.

"So it's established now right?" He asked Asmo, "Because of that one page, I can now just write 'Kira' and it'll work?"

"Of course!" Asmo barely choked out between bursts of laughing. "It's amazing though! I knew you'd eventually be able to control Kira, but I didn't expect you'd figure out how so soon!"

Now Samuel chuckled, "All I needed was the right kind of information about him. You expected me to figure out little things about him and then add it all up, right? In that case, it's really your mistake. You gave me a bit of information that would include at most four or five people in the city, and it ends up including just one! So--"

Time crashed again, to Beli's whining voice.

"Over already? You gave us way too much information way too early on Asmo!"

Tia was stupefied, Beli had...

"You figured it out already?!" He finally shouted.

"Well yeah, it wasn't that hard." She casually responded. "I mean, I had a harder time figuring out my own gender."

"But... but... HOW?!"

"Well look, Samuel has this cliched little rant- poor watched-too-many-foreign-movies grammar and everything- and it gives away that the Fate Note controls a person based on information about them. Little things stack together, and the person who's the best match gets controlled. He probably can't use a name- or it would just be too easy- but more likely he's dependent on humans putting a face to the information he puts in- that's the only way it makes sense anyway. So Asmo said something like 'oh the real Kira got the other notebook in the mail about the same time as you,' and he just has to put down 'Person who received a non-defaced notebook at 7:00PM 7/1/20011' or something, and he can control Kira.

So then he writes 'Defaced notebook given to Samuel – Recognize 'Kira' as referring to the above. Then act each night as though the following was written: 'Kira – write in your notebook the names of the 10 criminals who have committed the most dangerous crimes, and then forget about it.''

Tia simply floated, his mouth agape. It... it made perfect sense. It all added up. But... how could Beli be... so....

There was another loud crash, as Asmo stepped off the chessboard, and faced Beli. Of course, outside the game he didn't really look the same. In fact, he didn't really look like anything anymore, rather the concept now 'stood' there. 'Asmo is standing here.'

"Linear following of the law of conservation of detail, information given step-by-step, all WAY too easy Asmo. I almost feel cheated."

"I'm disappointed Beli."

He didn't sound disappointed at all. In fact, he was laughing even louder than before.

"You don't really think that's all do you?!"

The universe crashed together over and over, shattering and reforming and shattering again. Beli could feel the shards of the universe ripping against her body. She bled a red ash that disintegrated into the air, and slowly began to lose her existence.

But one-step below Shinigami, something protected her. A golden aura surrounding her body, as she descended to the gameboard.

"That's right" Beli- who was now a little red-haired human girl- said, trying out her new mouth. "I've still got to figure out your 'Other Note.'"

***

I present to you Universe, a number of abstract concepts for your consideration. Death Note, Fate Note, Other Note, the Observer Shinigami, and countless more which I cannot yet say. With each iteration the number shall only grow, and I expect it to be overwhelming. However AS'L and Belias shall be your guides, with their supernatural wit.

Let us take a moment Universe, to make use of our Omnipotence to note the nature of the world on this night, the 18th of July, 2011. The existence of four humans is established. Joshua Harris. Fifteen years old with brown hair in a braided ponytail, he was the recipient of the Death Note previously belonging to Yagami Light, has in fact only made use of this notebook once. Yet Kira has returned, thanks to Samuel Kenver. 18, with long unkept black hair, he was the recipient of the Fate Note, and dubbed "Matsura" by Mina Kodelva. In reference to a growing trend of Japanese detectives referring to themselves with a single Roman letter, Mina goes by the online pseudonym "Ambiguous Single Letter," or more commonly "AS'L." Though she is a pretty young lady- thirteen years old, with shoulder length blonde hair, she only leaves her apartment for nightly walks.

On her walk, she is about to come across Belias. More commonly called "Beli." Though for any other Shinigami, being forced to become human would be a disorienting experience, Beli is already making sense of her new form, a nine-year-old red-haired girl. As a Shinigami, she was a genius on the same level as L, able to make sense of the subtlest of details, and construct an interpretation based on the slightest of information. However, she has many issues communicating her reasoning.

Bound to Joshua, is Ryuk- whom I am certain you are familiar with. Since Light has done him the job of explaining the rules of the Death Note for him, Ryuk has preoccupied most of his time so far eating Joshua's food and wasting his memory card space.

On the other side of town, bound to Samuel, is Asmodus- more commonly called "Asmo." A jesterlike Shinigami whose wings were torn off at some point in the past. Though he bleeds eternally, he has stopped feeling the pain.

Finally, above this all, and merely a few steps below us, is the Observer Shinigami Tiamat- called "Tia." Tia and Beli fled together from existence- having together broken a particular law of the Shinigami world. He remains after Beli's mysterious descension, viewing the world through a peculiar proxy similar to our own. He- along with Beli- have been challenged by Asmo to solve the riddle presented to them through the game between KiraNeo, Matsura, and AS'L. Though he accepted confident that it could do no harm, he now has his doubts, after witnessing Beli almost dieing. Despite this, he is fairly slow to reason, and surely stands no chance on his own.

I hope you've been following Universe, I understand you're fairly small at this time. But I'd love for you to at least speak your mind. At any rate, this is the conclusion of the third iteration of Asmodus' game.


End file.
